Mission Local has more details, including the following quote from one of the owners of the space:

We at I/O own the building. The Summit was simply our coffee shop vendor. They weren’t able to pay the market rate for rent, so we’re going to have a new vendor in going forward. The incubator is definitely still open and will be having the next group of companies in the new year.

“Market rate” in this case means that the owners paid too much for the apace, and that no business will ever be able to pay the rent necessary to cover the mortgage expenses of this masturbatory business fantasy.

Shuttered storefronts are to be expected when landparasites charge so much for leases that most businesses will fail.

This was my least favorite establishment to come onto Valencia. I like the .com’ing to stay on the peninsula, I suppose. It was sort of a douchier version of something that already existed, ala tacolicious.

The article says that The Summit was just the coffee vendor for the space and that a new vendor was preparing to move in. It will probably have to be an established coffee vendor to afford the space’s apparently outrageous rent. I wonder who that new vendor will be? Let’s all speculate. I’m going with Blue Bottle. That’ll bring the San Francisco Coffee Wars (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMqutKBS5iE) home for sure.

When they say “couldn’t pay market rate”, I’m guessing it means the landlord agreed to whatever monthly rate but put them on a month to month lease. Summit then did a fuckload of improvements to the space. Then someone (I like the Blue Bottle theory) offered some insane rent to the landlord, who gave Summit the option of matching it. When they couldn’t, they declared that they “couldn’t pay market rate”.

I have no idea what actually happened, but I have a feeling it was something like that. And whether or not you liked Summit’s coffee or their barristas or whatever, that strikes me as a really shitty turn of events.

Also, at least that cafe tried to do something different than the usual overly slick super gourmet coffee places. The DJs and art were a good idea, whether you liked the execution or not. And I thought it was great that it doubled as an event space.

Regardless of how you feel about The Summit, they tried to bring something different on Valencia… Offering quality cup of joe, a chill place for people to meet, work, or just hang… And always thought the staff was nice. I went to some really fun events over there from art openings, to nightlife events, and even a movie screening. It’s not easy to start up a biz in this economic climate, and I’m sure the overhead was already pretty high… Sounds like another greedy landlord jacking up the rent and going with the highest bidder, which is a reflection on the building owners, not the tenant. The Summit got screwed.

In what world is “Offering quality cup of joe, a chill place for people to meet, work, or just hang” something different on Valencia? How ever will the neighborhood survive, what with Ritual and Four Barrel each a few blocks from that spot, plus the many smaller coffee shops. This place was the height of gentrification, and unless you’re really a fan of the Tacolicious-ification of Valencia, its hard to feel too bad about this place closing.

Landlords (ie I/O) jacked the rent after Summit put in a LOT of money to build out the space/get it permitted/etc. Stupid move on Summit-owner’s part… Who puts that much money into a space with only a 1 year lease?

Summit owners should have stayed in NOPA/kept their club/rest (polaing?) open there, instead of putting their money into i/o’s pocket.

This is all second hand info. I heard it from a guy who heard it from a guy. But that’s what you get on the internet.